just a question

There was a young lady in one of my test sessions who sniffed a big wet juicy sniff every two seconds for about an hour. I hand-delivered kleenex and she looked at me in puzzlement, and continued to sniff. Then I gave her the box of kleenex and told her there was lots and please feel free to use it. She looked bewildered and continued to sniff. Finally, the other guy taking the test said, "You sound like my 10 year-old son. Go ahead and blow your nose." She apologized very timidly, ceased to sniff, but still would NOT blow her nose. At all. I've run across this once or twice before. What am I missing here? Do the kids not realize that other people can hear them sniff? Or are they not aware that they ARE sniffing? Or do they think continual sniffing is less offensive than a good blow? Is there some sub-cultural thing about not blowing your nose in public? Are they afraid they'll leave DNA evidence? Did they just snort something and they don't want to blow it out? What is with this?

I did not, much as I wanted to, slap a wad of tissues down in front of her and beg, "For the sweet love of Jesus, would you just blow your nose?!"

She did not show up for the test she was scheduled to take in the next hour. Crap. She's been traumatized.

Things were so slow yesterday morning that I thought we might be in a Twilight Zone episode . . . where you step outside the building to see where everyone went, and you discover that the aliens have set you up in a sort of ant farm for the kiddies to watch. The three people scheduled for 8:30 tests didn't show, so I spent two hours dusting desk tops and wiping fingerprints from around door handles. Two of the 5 scheduled for math showed up, and three of the 7 scheduled for writing. By 3:30 I got a 50% turn-out - 7 of the 14 scheduled. I don't know what it was. Things were just slow all over. I wonder what today will be like?